96 Beign of Angiosperms. 



would not furnish, in a circuit of many leagues, more than 

 three or four species of these genera. Lastly, another cha- 

 racter, which I have already spoken of, and which makes this 

 Flora to differ still further from that of our epoch, is the ab- 

 sence, or at least the small number and nature of the plants 

 with Gamopetalous corollas. 



" Thus, there are only twenty plants of this Flora arranged 

 in the families of this division, and all are referrible to this 

 group of Hypogynous gamopetales, which I have distinguished 

 by the name of Isogynes ; in the general organization of 

 the flowers, they approach nearest to the dialypetales. 



"Is this absence of Anisogynous gamopetales, and with irre- 

 gular ovaries, the result of chance ; or does it arise from this, 

 that many of these plants, particularly among the species of 

 temperate regions, are herbaceous, and that herbaceous 

 plants are generally in conditions less favourable for passing 

 into a fossil state \ Or, lastly, did those families, which some 

 botanists have been led to consider the most elevated in or- 

 ganization, not yet exist ? These are points which cannot be 

 positively determined in the present state of our knowledge. 



" We may however remark, that at the Miocene epoch, 

 these plants were still less numerous, but belonging to other 

 families ; and that at the Eocene period, no one is mentioned 

 by the authors who have shewn the connection between the 

 fossil and living plants, without having any preconceived 

 idea on the subject. 



" Another fact to be noticed, but which likewise probably 

 depends on the herbaceous nature of these vegetables, and 

 their leaves not being shed, is the almost complete absence 

 of Monocotyledons, ferns, and mosses, which establishes, in 

 regard to these families, a very great difference between 

 the Pliocene flora and that of modern Europe. 



" A difference not less important distinguishes this Flora 

 from that of the most ancient epochs ; namely, the absence, in 

 all these formations, of the family of Ferns, which, on the con- 

 trary, furnishes so prominent a feature in the Miocene epoch. 

 No trace of them occur in Europe in the Pliocene formations 

 I have enumerated ; while the woods of this family are very 

 abundant in the formations of the West Indies, which is con- 



